Adrian College women's soccer falls to Hope

Friday

Sep 13, 2013 at 12:00 PM

Bulldogs' rally comes up short in 2-1 defeat

By Matt SisolerDaily Telegram Sports Writer

The Adrian College Bulldogs women's soccer team fell just short with its furious second half rally, falling 2-1 to the Hope College Flying Dutch. Both teams fought hard for control of the ball in this clash between Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association contenders.

"This was the best Hope team we had seen in a while," Adrian coach Ali Alamdari said, "so we knew coming in that it would be a good battle, especially since both of these teams entered the match ranked in the top 10 (regionally)."

The defenses clashed early, with neither team managing on a shot on net for the first 15 minutes of the match, the ball changing possession often.

Hope (5-0, 2-0 MIAA) would get it started off a corner kick. Nora Kirk scored her first goal with a header just past 15 minutes in to give Hope the 1-0 advantage. Adrian's first counterattack after the goal resulted in a shot just missing the left post.

The gap would grow to 2-0 just a few seconds away from the 27-minute mark in the match, as a shot initially handled by Adrian goalkeeper Lexi Lewandowski came free, and as the ball rolled near the goal line, Kristina Bosch put home the rebound.

Despite Adrian (3-2, 0-2) outshooting the Dutch 3-1 in the final 15 minutes of the first half, the Bulldogs couldn't get it past Hope goalkeeper Kat Dickson, and they went into the half trailing by two.

The second half had barely started, but the Bulldogs came out firing on all cylinders, and barely a minute into play, Adrian midfielder Sophie Rammal put home a shot past Dickson, her first of the year, to narrow the gap to 2-1. Sam Barker had the assist on the goal. A minute and a half later, forward Erin Weide forced Dickson to make a diving stop to prevent the equalizer.

As the match entered the final minutes, the Bulldogs kept coming at the Dutch. At the 73rd minute, forward Carmina Lizyness cut across the middle of the field and launched a long-range shot, beating Dickson, only to be denied by the goal post. In the 83rd minute, defender Aly Masciovecchio, having just re-entered the match, took a long free kick and just missed the net high, scraping paint off of the crossbar as it rocketed past.

Then, with about two minutes remaining, Adrian's last really good chance occurred. Midfielder Alanna Chambry turned quickly, outmaneuvering Dickson, who had ventured outside the 18-yard area, but somehow, Dickson managed to dive across, stopping the chance.

The Flying Dutch were able to run out the clock after the chance, ending any chance of the Bulldogs completing the second-half rally.

"It was going to be a close game, and many of our younger players earned their time today," said Alamdari.

Adrian plays Saturday against MIAA foe Albion in a match that was moved to Adrian after severe weather damaged Albion's campus earlier this week.